Switch throwing means



June 21, 1932 I w BERRY ET AL 1,864,117

SWITCH THRCWING MEANS Filed May 3 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet l HHHHHHHHW Id/7265 W fiei 'r' and/ jfoher Hclfizy ff Gum a; 1

June 21, 1932. J w BERRY ET AL r 1,864,117

SWITCH THROWING MEANS Filed May 5 192 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jznws Wber'r' and K0061 3146 avwewtm/ i JupefZl, 1932. J. w. BERRY ET AL SWITCH THROWING MEANS Filed May 3 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Jalnes June 21, 1932.. J w BERRY ET 1,864,117 7 SWITCH THROWING MEANS Filed May 5 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 LE /Al Patented June 21, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAMES W. BERRY, OF MARINE CITY, MICHIGAN, AND ROBERT MCKNIGHT, F SARNIA,

ON TARIO, CANADA swrrcn 'rnaowme MEANS Application filed May 3, 1926. Serial No. 106,458.

The device forming the subject matter of this application is a clock movement, and the invention aims to provide novel means, actuated by the clock movement, for throwing an electrical switch, at a predetermined time.

It is withinthe province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the in vention appertains. j

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention. In the drawings Figure 1 shows in front elevation, a device constructed in accordance with the invention;

. Figure 2 is a side elevation, the casing having been omitted; I

Figure 3 is an elevation showing the front of the clock movement,.parts appearing in section; V

p Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4. of

igure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fi re 3;

igure 6 is'a section on the line 66 of Figure 3. Q

The device forming the subjectmatterof this application may be mounted within a casing 1, provided with a hinged door 2. A partition 3 extends'across the casing 1, and divides the casing into an upper clock chamher 4 and a lower switch chamber 5. The

bottom of the casing 1 is marked by the numeral 6, and carries a switch 7. The switch 7 need not be described in great detail, because it forms the subject matter of United States Patent No. 1,526,623, and because many kinds of switches may be used in connection with the device hereinafter described. Let it sufiice to state that the switch 7 'is secured at 8 to the bottom 6 of the casing 1, and includes binding posts 9, the switch embodyadapted to dip into a mercury cup 12. In

the partition 3, there is an opening 14, in P which the arm 11 of the switch 7 operates.

The numeral 15 designates, generally a clock movement. located in the clock chamber 4. The clock movement 15 may be of any desired sort. cation, it embodies a front plate 16 and a main dial 17 secured at 18 to the front plate. The minute arbor is shown at 19 and carries the minute hand 20. A sleeve 21 is rotatable on So far as material to this applithe minute arbor 19 and carries the hour hand 22. The minute arbor 19 is driven by spring.- actuated train 23. Motion is transmitted from the minute arbor 19 to the sleeve 21 of the hour hand 22, by means of a pinion 44 on the minute arbor 19, the pinion 44 meshing with a gear wheel 45 journaled on a stub shaft 46 which is mounted in the front plate 16. A pinion 47 rotates with the gear wheel 45 and meshes into a gear wheel 24 carried b the sleeve 21 of the hour hand 22.

The gear wheel 24 meshes with a pinion 25 journaled on a stub shaft 26 carried by the front plate 16. The pinion 25 meshes with a gear wheel 27 on a sleeve 28 that is mounted to rotate on a support or stub shaft 29 carried by the front plate 16. The sleeve 28 has a shoulder 70, and a friction plate 71 is secured to the sleeve 28 in spaced relation to the shoulder 70. The gear wheel 27 exten-ds between the friction plate 71 and the shoulder 70, and is bound therebetween. The construction is such that when the gear wheel 27 is rotated by the driving train, the sleeve 28 will be rotated also, but, when the sleeve can rotate with respect to the gear wheel 27, the gear wheel 27 remaining fixed. The sleeve 28 may be rotated, as aforesaid, by means of a key or the like, applied to the squared outer end 72' of the sleeve 28. An index 73 is mounted on the outer end of the sleeve 28 and cooperates with an auxiliary dial 74, inscribed upon or connected to the main dial 17, the auxiliary dial being provided with numerals reading, from 1 to 24 as clearly shown in Figure 1 28 is forcibly rotated by hand, the sleeve 28 e.

preferably,

of the drawings. A disk 31 is secured to the sleeve 28, in abutment with the shoulder 7 0 and is supplied with a notch 33 defining a shoulder 34.

The numeral 39 marks a lever provided at its upper end with a rearwardly extended finger 40, adapted to travel the periphery of the disk 31 and to cooperate with the shoulder 34, the lever being supplied at its lower end with a rearwardly extended finger 41, adapted to cooperate with the arm 11 of the switch 7. The lever 39 has a hub 42 receiving a fulcrum pin 43 on the front plate 16, the lever thus being mounted for swinging movement in a plane parallel to the front plate.

The structure last above described, beginning with the hub shaft 29, and ending with the lever 39, and located at the left hand side of Figure 3, is substantially duplicated at the right-hand side of Figure 3, and the description may be abridged accordingly. The stub shaft is shown at 75, the sleeve at 52, the disk at 49, the notch in the disk at 50, and the shoulder at 51. The auxiliary dial appears at 54, and the pointer onthe sleeve 32 is marked by the numeral 53. The lever is shown at 55 and is fulcrumed at 56. The upper finger of the lever appears at 57 and is adapted to ride on the periphery of the disk 49 and to cooperate with the shoulder 51. The lower finger, which coacts with the arm 11 of the switch, is designated by the numeral 58. The numeral 60 designates the friction disk which cooperates with the pinion 48.

The levers 55 and 39 are connected by a retractile spring 59. It is to be observed that the stub shafts 26 and 46 carry removable plates or disks 61, held in place by screws 62 threaded into the stub shafts. One of the disks 61 overlaps the gear wheel 27 and holds the sleeve 28 on the support 29. The other of the disks 61 overlaps the gear wheel 48 and holds the sleeve 32 on the stub shaft or support 75, corresponding to the support 29.

In practical operation, the key is applied to the squared end 72 of the sleeve 28, and the sleeve 28 is rotated until the index 73 on the sleeve 28 cooperates with the dial 7 4 to indicate the period of time which will elapse between the setting of the device and the opening of the switch 7 By means of a key applied to the squared end of the sleeve 32, the sleeve is rotated, and the index 53 is moved around on the dial 54 to indicate the period of time that will elapse between the setting of the device and the closing of the switch 7. When the sleeve 28 is rotated, the disk 31 is rotated, and the position of the notch .33 is shifted with respect to the finger 40 on the lever 39. When the sleeve 52 is rotated, the notch 50 in the disk 49 is adjusted with respect to the finger 57 of the lever 55. The clock movement rotates the disk 49, the finger 57 on the lever 55 moves into the notch 50 under the action of the spring 59 and the finger 58 on the lever 55 brings the arm 11 of the switch 7 to the left in Figure 3, thus closing the switch. Ultimately, the finger 57 on the lever 55, moving along the shoulder 51, passes out of the notch 50 and uponethe periphery of the disk 49. When the time has arrived when the switch isto be opened, the finger 40 on the lever 39 rides into the notch 33 of the disk 31, and the finger41 on ,thelever 39, cooperating with the arm 11 of the switch 7, under the action of the spring 59, restores the arm 11 to the position of Figure 3, the finger 40 moving into the notch 33 as the switch is thrown and coming into contact with the shoulder 34, the finger 40 riding off the shoulder 39 and upon the periphery of the disk 31, as the disk is rotated.

The gear trains 246127 and 24-6l48 of Figure 3 are substantially identical, the disks 31 and 49 are substantially identical, and the notches 33 and 50 in the disks are substantially identical, a construction which reduces greatly the cost of manufacture, since duplicate parts thus are provided. The amount that the finger 40 moves in the notch 33 is equal to the amount that the finger 57 moves in the notch 50, the distancebetween the fulcrum 43 and the corresponding stub shaft 29 is approximately equal to the distance between the fulcrum 56 and the stub shaft 7 5,

and the distance between the fulcrum 43 and the adjacent end of the spring 59 is approximately equal to the distance between the fulcrum 56 and the correspondingend of the said spring, and as a result, the ends of the spring 59 will move approximately as far when the spring 59 is elongated by the lever 39, as when it is elongated by the lever 55, thereby keeping approximately, equal, the pressuresexerted by'th e disks 31 and 49 on the fingers 40 and 57 respectively, as the fingers move out of the notches 33 and 50 respectively, and upon the peripheries of the disks, the driving strain being divided with practical equality between the: gear trains, and causing the switch throwing mechanism to have no appreciable effect on the operation of the time train.

What is claimed is I I 1 In a switch-throwing device, a frame, a time-train carried bythe frame and including hour and minuteshafts,dials fixed on-th'e frame, stub shafts fixed upon the frame and located above and in symmetrical relation to the hour and minute shafts, key-operated sleeves journaled upon the stubshafts, indices secured to the sleeves and cooperating with the dials, a gear wheel mounted on oneof said shafts of the time-train, like gear trains engaged with the gearwheel andinoludi-ng gear wheels in which the sleeves are rotatable mechanism for coupling the last-specified gfar wheels frictionally to the sleeves, like 'sks fixedf-to'the sleeves and having like notches in their peripheries, levers provided at their upper ends with fingers rlding on the peripheries of the disks and adapted to enter the notches, switch-throwing means on the lower ends of the levers, fulcra on which the levers are mounted intermediate their ends, and a pull spring having its ends connected to the levers below their fulcra: the movement of the fingers in the notches being equal, the distances between each fulcrum and the corresponding stub shaft being so nearly equal, and the distances between each fulcrum and the corresponding end of the spring being so nearly equal, that the ends of the spring will move an approximately equal amount when the spring is elongated by either lever, thereby keeping approximately equal, the pressures exerted by the disks on the fingers as the fingers move out of the notches and upon the peripheries of the disks, and dividing the driving strain with practical equality between the gear trains.

In testimony that we claim. the foregoing as our own, we have hereto aflixed our signatures.

JAMES W. BERRY. ROBERT MoKNIGHT. 

